playing most home ports of arcade fighters before the late 90's isn't that fun. before the ps1 and n64 with analog sticks you're probably dealing with a mushy d-pad, systems couldn't match the power of arcade cabs, and you've got better options that were designed for your console in mind. I get the appeal of bringing the fight home to play with friends and without a bunch of quarters, but its just a no-go nowadays. imo this applies to street fighter, mortal kombat, fatal fury, etc.

luckily, I've got an arcade next to me so ive been able to experience a lot of these games that I didn't really like due to their home console controls. and while street fighter 2 on the arcade is pretty much the same as its home versions, it undoubtably feels better to conquer with a proper stick. give it a shot if you have the chance. it won't turn this into an instant classic, but not having to wrestle with the controls is most of the battle.

plenty of improvements here, I'm sure playing this with someone would suffice and be more enjoyable but man does the solo experience suck ass. from the get go the CPU picks up difficulty right away and I almost gave up pretty early but then started cheesing the game as E Honda. special fuck you to whoever coded Guile and Vega they were just straight assholes. it's interesting how impactful this game is for the rest of the franchise onwards in regards to the character design and certain character moves. it's pretty obvious why the car bonus stage is very much remembered and referenced compared to the 2 other bonus stages lol. I know there's documentation and guides on how to properly defeat each character but fighting them feels like a massive effort even with the safety net of SF30TH Collection's save states.